Romeo and Juliet

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Introduction

Romeo and Juliet Why is Act Three Scene One such a dramatic scene? The play "Romeo and Juliet" was written by William Shakespeare and first performed between 1594 and 1595; it is set in the fourteenth century in Verona, Italy. When Shakespeare wrote the play Elizabeth I ruled over England, she loved the theatre. Like Elizabeth I, other people in the sixteenth century were fond of any sort of entertainment. They liked to watch theatre with themes of Love, Death and Tragedy; they also liked plays with themes of Revenge. It was important for Shakespeare to make his plays as exciting as possible, because the non-educated proportion of the public needed action in order to relate to the plays. An audience in the sixteenth century would have liked "Romeo and Juliet" because in Shakespearean time arranged marriages were the norm and Shakespeare's plays were different. The many contrasting issues captivate the audience's attention, therefore making "Romeo and Juliet" an exciting play to watch. "Romeo and Juliet" is a tragic play, which is about eternal love that is concealed by conflict and finally overrun by death. Although the play is about love, there are many scenes of violence and conflict. The violence in the play occurs because of an ancient feud between two families and finally leads to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. This essay discusses which techniques Shakespeare employs to create a dramatic and tense scene and how effective they are. In this scene it is apparent that the atmosphere changes from a calm, peaceful mood to slightly more irritable and agitated feelings and then finally to intense anger, passion and regret. ...read more.

Middle

The atmosphere has become a lot more intense because by the characters using insults and taunting each other they have heightened each other's emotions. It is ironic that a brawl should take place between these characters because with the taunting, temperature and ancient feud characters are more liable for a fight. The theme of fate is highlighted and portrays to the audience that after a dramatic build up in tension and with character's background, a conflict was inevitable. There are elements of mixed loyalties that are apparent in the scene. When Mercutio is killed, Romeo feels guilty and ashamed and this leads to him become more agitated and likely to take his anger out on another character. After the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, the reader and characters think that Mercutio is joking when he is hurt. The reader and characters are lead to believe that Mercutio is joking through his character and the exclamations he makes whilst he is dying. "You shall find me a grave man" The audience responds to Mercutio, in thinking that he is joking because this is how his character has been portrayed previously in the play. When the audience realizes that Mercutio is not joking and is being serious, the tension is raised because of the contrast in how Mercutio is acting. This contrast is emphasized by the words, "grave man". The word "grave" is a pun and can be related to either, a place for burying a dead body or something that is serious or critical. The use of this word shows that Mercutio is trying to stress to both characters and the reader the seriousness of the matter. ...read more.

Conclusion

As Romeo cries out "O" this highlight his distress to the reader and shows how his personality has changed through the scene. It is evident to the reader that Romeo regrets what he has done and this creates tension through guilt and lament. Towards the end of the scene, we find that Benvolio explains to the Prince the events that occurred. Being a Montague the reader expects Benvolio to be bias towards the Montagues. Surprisingly, we find Benvolio to be unbiased and equally blame both houses. The audience is left shocked at Benvolio's words. This creates tension because in the scene, when there was mixed loyalties, characters were slain. This scene is a significant part of the play because it highlights in greater detail the ancient feud that is present behind these two families. Also, it shows a huge contrast in the character's personalities. We find that, as well as different characters having different moods and characteristics, individual characters change the way they conduct themselves through the events in this scene. This scene is the turning point in the play because both families realize that this feud has caused them great losses. Overall, the techniques, which made the scene the most dramatic, were the techniques that showed a contrast between two things. For example, the contrast in personalities led to a disagreement. A contrast shows things that are completely opposite and are not they same in any way. In not being the same these things interact negatively with other things and creates tension. However, there are many other techniques, which contributed to the build up in tension and this created a very significant and dramatic scene. ?? ?? ?? ?? Andrew Buglass Page 1 of 6 ...read more.

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